Who Is Chamath Palihapitiya?
Chamath Palihapitiya is an American and Canadian venture capitalist, entrepreneur, engineer, and social capital CEO. He belongs to Sri Lanka. He was a senior executive at Facebook in 2007 and worked there until 2011. He was also part owner of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Chamath Palihapitiya was also an investor, spending millions of dollars on tech stocks. In this article, read everything about Chamath Palapitiya from his biography to his net worth and all his success stories.
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Biography
Full Name | Chamath Palihapitiya |
Nick Name | SPAC King |
Education | University of Waterloo, Lisgar Collegiate Institute |
Profession | Investor, Entrepreneur, and Engineer |
Date of Birth | September 3, 1976 |
Citizenship | Canada, United States |
Birth Place | Sri Lanka |
Age | 47 years |
Material Status | Married |
Spouse | Brigette Lau |
Children | 5 |
Net Worth | $1.2 billion |
Chamath Palihapitiya Early Life
Chamath Palihaptia was born in September 1976 in Sri Lanka. He moved to Canada with his family in 1980. He completed his education and obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1999.
After completing his graduation, Chamath got a job in a bank where he was getting an annual salary of $55,000. He decided to work in the banking industry because he got a good salary there.
During this period, Chamath Palihapitiya started investing in tech stocks. This investment made his future brighter as he made a lot of money in stocks.
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Chamath Palihapitiya Net Worth
It is estimated and said that Chammath’s net worth is 1.2 billion $. But accordingly, his investments in different technology sectors his income could go up and down. From a bank job to building his social capital, Chamath Palihapitiya earned a lot of money.
By investing in different technology stocks his net worth is around 53 million dollars. He made almost 25 million $ in SPCE stock at Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.
He also invested around 100 million dollars in bitcoin. He was a professional investor in digital currency. In 2013 he made a profit of 1200 million $.
Chamath Palihapitiya Career
AOL and Winamp
In the year 2000, Palihapitiya was invited to play a role in business development at Winamp, a media player startup in California. Chamath worked as a corporate leader with AOL. Within a few years, he was able to run the instant messaging division, AIM, and was only 27 years old at the time. Due to some reasons he left AOL and decided to work with social media.
Social Media Start-Up
When Palipitiya left AOL, he started a startup called Facebook MetaPlatforms. While working at Facebook, he began exploring many of the tech startups that would later work for him. He played a good role here and made a name for himself here.
While working at Facebook, he started investing in other platforms. Plehepatia’s best investment was in a social gaming company known as PlayDome. In 2010, the Disney Company purchased the Playdome for $763 million.
In addition, he made money by investing in 3D desktop software. From 2010 to 2011, Chamath Palihaptia earned a lot of money within a year. Now he left Facebook and started his social capital with the help of his wife “Brigette Lau”. He spent $60 million of his earnings on his social capital and invited Facebook as an investor.
Social Capital aims to raise funds and invest in various technology companies. Social capital can be invested in the life science, energy, and technology sectors. This company supports and helps businessmen to solve their various problems.
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Investment Details
Investment Name | Stock | Amount |
Virgin Galactic Holdings | NYSE: SPCE | $1.06 billion |
Clover Health Investments | NASDAQ: CLOV | $409 million |
Opendoor Technologies | NASDAQ: OPEN | $1.75 billion |
Pro kidney | NASDAQ: PROK | $690 million |
Akili | NASDAQ: AKLI | $91 million |
Conclusion
Chamath Palapitiya was a self-made billionaire. He took advantage of every opportunity. As a teenager, he worked in a restaurant to support himself. His parents’ financial condition was not good. So, he proved to himself, that nothing is impossible.
Everything can be achieved with hard work and patience. If you are not doing well financially, don’t think that it is the end of your life, think big and move forward like Palihapitya. His success story and whole life are a great lesson for us.
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